Roller skates



July 12, 1960 F. MAKARA 2,944,827

ROLLER SKATES Filed Jan. 30, 1959 IN YEN TOR MAKARA ATTORNEY United States Patent ROLLER SKATES Frank Makara, 29 Orange Drive, Seaford, N.Y.

Filed Jan. 30, 19 59, Ser. No. 790,090

1 Claim. (Cl. 280-1128) This invention relates to roller skates.

It is an object of this invention to provide a pair of skates of great safety.

Skates having the conventional four wheels are hazardous for beginners since a fall on concrete may lead to extensive bodily injury.

This invention is described and illustrated by the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the roller skate,

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the roller skate,

Fig. 3 is a front view of another roller embodiment,

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section view of a front roller disposed upon a front swivel block of rubber,

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section view showing the inwardly disposed linear edges of the channel of the roller retaining block and the manner of seizing the roller below its diameter, and

Fig. "6 is an end view of a channel block showing an integral end plate for retaining the roller in the channel against longitudinal displacement.

Turning to the drawing the skate 10 is provided with a conventional platform surface 11, conventional heel plate 12 and holder straps 13. Secured to the bottom of the platform is a front bearing holder or pincer block 14 and a rear bearing holder or pincer block 15. The holders are provided with inwardly directed knife edges for preventing the roller from disengaging from the block.

The roller 16 is preferably made of steel but wooden and hard plastic rollers are operable. The holder block also may be of steel but plastic blocks of for example, nylon, polyethylene, etc., are operable.

As shown in Fig. 2 the roller may have a smooth cylindrical surface or as shown in Fig. 3 the roller 17 may be provided with a plurality of integral rings 18X having circular curved surfaces in order to engage the floor at plural points of tangency. Where the roller is smooth walled (Fig. 2) the skate roller engages the floor at a line of tangency.

In order to effect a steering of the skate, the front channel block 14 is preferably secured by conventional means such as clamping'to a rubber or resilient plastic I-shaped block 16X.

A metal transverse clamping plate 18 is secured by screws or rivets 19 to the front of the skate and clamped to the top of the rubber block 16X. This rubber block 2,944,827 Patented July 12, 1960 is free intermediate its opposed clamping elements 14 and 18 and being resilient it may be twisted rotationally. As a result the axis of the roller 16 in the front clamp 14 during turning is not transverse to the longitudinal dimension of the skate.

Where the holder blocks are of suitable plastic a selflubrication of the roller and its holder block 14 at its line of pressure tangency is effected.

Preferably the holder blocks 14 are molded one piece elements having inwardly directed knife edges 20 to permit a manual pushing in of a roller 16. The pair of knife edges 20 of a block seizingly engage the roller 12 at opposed lines of tangency below the diameter of the roller, thereby preventing it from falling out or of being easily popped out. The knife edges 20 also act as sweepers for preventing dirt from entering into the channel of the holder block.

Preferably the molded holder blocks are provided with integral opposed end plates 21 which engage both of the end walls of a roller 12 thereby preventing it from being longitudinally pushed out of the holder channel.

Where the holder blocks are cut from a continuous piece of extruded plastic in lieu of being individually molded, separate end plates may be secured to the plastic blocks as by screws, etc.

This invention is of considerable scope and is not limited to the illustrations shown herein.

I claim:

In a roller skate having a shoe receiving platform and shoe embracing straps secured to said platform, the improvement comprising a front and a rear pincer block each having opposed resilient spaced-apart jaws forming a suitable longitudinal cavity, said pincer blocks being secured to the respective undersurface area of said shoe platform, and a cylindrical roller of a diameter greater than that of the spaced-apart opening between said jaws and adapted to be seizingly seated in the cavity between said jaws, said jaws slidingly seizing said rollers along opposed cylindrical surfaces below the roller diameter, and a rubber I-shaped support secured to and intermediate said front pincer block and the front area of the shoe platform whereby steering of the front roller may be effected by pressure suitably applied to the respective outer edges of said front roller thereby causing said I-shaped support to twist the front roller into the desired direction of motion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 255,460 Ross Mar. 28, 1882 257,426 Witsil May 2, 1882 584,089 Buttermilch June 8, 1897 862,431 Armband Aug. 6, 1907 1,071,721 Finlay Sept. 2, 1913 2,679,401 Williams May 25, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 416,858 France Aug. 17, 1910 400,436 Great Britain Oct. 26, 1933 

